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Scientists from A*Star, NTU find way to upcycle old solar panels

Posted on July 21, 2022July 20, 2022 by dishanth

Recycling old solar panels is challenging, but scientists from Singapore have found a way to upcycle the silicon inside and turn them into materials that can convert heat into electricity.

The team comprising researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) turned old solar panels into thermoelectric materials.

Such materials convert heat into electricity, and work in a similar way to how hydropower generation plants use water movement to drive turbines to generate electricity.

The joint study was published in the scientific journal Advanced Materials in March.

Dr Ady Suwardi, the deputy head of the soft materials research department at A*Star’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering said that by moving heat from one side to another, thermoelectric materials generate electricity.

This can then be used for applications like cooling, added Dr Ady, who co-led the study.

The team found that impurities and defects in the silicon used to make solar cells actually enhance the performance of thermoelectric materials.

A solar panel is made up of many solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells.

Separating the materials used to make solar panels and recycling each of them is a complex and costly process, said Associate Professor Nripan Mathews.

The team comprising researchers from A*Star and NTU turned old solar panels into thermoelectric materials. PHOTO: A*STAR

Prof Mathews, who is the cluster director of renewables and low-carbon generation (solar) at the Energy Research Institute @NTU (ERI@N), added that current recycling methods are able to recover only the glass and metallic support structures from solar panels.

Solar cells contain a complex mix of materials such as aluminium, copper, silver, lead, plastic and silicon.

Silicon, which is extremely pure, makes up 90 per cent of solar cells. However, this normally ends up in landfills.

This is because silicon has to be chemically treated and remelted to be recycled into pure silicon, said Prof Mathews.

He added that it is challenging, energy-intensive and expensive to recover the silicon to create new, functional solar cells.

“While silicon holds very little weight in the entire solar panel, it is the most valuable part of it, which explains why it is important for us to try and upcycle it,” said Prof Mathews.

Upcycling of solar panels (bottom) into valuable heat-harvesting electricity materials such as thermoelectric modules (top). PHOTO: A*STAR

The team is currently looking to pilot the technology for large-scale upcycling of waste silicon to create silicon-based thermoelectrics.

This can be used for high-temperature energy harvesting applications such as converting heat generated from industrial waste processes into electricity.

There are a number of research efforts ongoing in Singapore to see how solar panels can be recycled.

The NTU project, for example, is one of two currently supported by the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) Closing the Waste Loop funding initiative.

The $45 million initiative was launched in 2017 to boost research and development in areas such as the recovery of materials from waste streams.

The other project, a recycling programme led by Singapore Polytechnic (SP), aims to recycle solar panels on a commercial scale and recover more than 90 per cent by weight of the materials from the solar panels, said NEA.

In 2019, The Straits Times reported that Sembcorp and SP will also work together to develop a pilot recycling plant for solar panels.

However, the institutions declined to comment when asked for updates on the effort.

Another research effort by NTU spin-off EtaVolt, a solar tech firm, is working with the university on various other solar recycling projects, said its co-founder and chief executive Stanley Wang.

The project is not funded by NEA’s Closing the Waste Loop initiative.

Dr Wang said that the upcoming projects aim to recover materials from decommissioned solar panels so they can be recycled and reutilised as raw materials for battery, solar panel manufacturing and other industrial applications.

“This would allow us to recover the end-of-life value of these raw materials, which can potentially be given back to companies in the form of rebates to incentivise them to recycle their solar panels sustainably,” he added.

Source The Straits Times

Recycling bins to be given to each household to raise domestic recycling rate

Posted on January 19, 2022 by dishanth

The National Environment Agency (NEA) is stepping up a gear to nudge people to speed up their recycling pace, working with public waste collectors to distribute a recycling bin to each household in 2022.

The hope is that “these bins will make it more convenient for Singaporeans to store recyclables in their homes before bringing them down to the recycling bins in their areas”, said Mr Desmond Tan, Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment, on Friday (Jan 14).

A community wall mural at the launch of the Recycle Right 2022 campaign on Jan 14, 2022. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

According to 2020’s national recycling data from NEA , the domestic recycling rate stands at 13 per cent – a 10-year low – though the latest survey by the agency in 2021 found that three in five Singaporean households recycle.

The domestic recycling rate is the amount of household waste recycled as a proportion of total household waste.

The Sustainable Singapore Blueprint has set the goal of arriving at a 30 per cent domestic recycling rate by 2030.

Contamination remains the greatest contributor to the country’s low domestic recycling rate.

About 40 per cent of all items placed in the recycling bins cannot be repurposed due to food and waste leakage or they are simply non-recyclable.

Common misconceptions still rule, with half of all Singaporeans thinking that objects like soft toys and styrofoam are suitable for recycling.

Also, Singaporeans frequently do not wash their recyclables before placing them into the bin. This contaminates the other items inside and makes them unsuitable for repurposing.

To better educate the public on the objects that can be placed in the bins, NEA launched the Recycle Right 2022 campaign on Friday.

The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment and NEA have placed refreshed labels on all blue recycling bins and chutes to remind households to check the items before disposing of them.

The campaign aims to raise awareness by providing educational material through schools, and introducing a mascot called Bloobin, which can be viewed with an augmented reality filter made by @cleanandgreensg on Instagram.

In addition to NEA’s campaign, Mr Tan hopes that the recycling bins – scheduled to arrive in households later this year – will “give Singaporeans a place to organise their recyclables, clean them properly, before they bring them down to be binned”.

Madam Irene Soh, 65, a human resource executive, supports the initiative, saying that it will “definitely make me more conscious about recycling and I will do it more when I can”.

Source The Straits Times

New battery recycling facility in Tuas, a first in Singapore and South-east Asia

Posted on March 29, 2021March 29, 2021 by dishanth

SINGAPORE – A new battery recycling facility capable of recycling 14 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries – or the equivalent of 280,000 smartphone batteries – per day officially opened in Tuas on Wednesday (March 24).

The TES B facility, set up by home-grown electronic waste (e-waste) recycler TES, is able to recover more than 90 per cent of precious metals from lithium-ion batteries for reuse in battery production, said TES.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, TES chief executive Gary Steele said that the battery space is potentially facing raw material shortages due to the widespread use of smart devices, electric vehicles and mobility devices. According to the company, the volume of lithium-ion batteries sold annually by 2025 is expected to balloon fivefold to almost five million tonnes a year.

“For the last 100 years, we have all lived in a ‘take-make-waste’ linear economic model, where materials are extracted from the earth, used and then thrown away. That model is clearly not sustainable,” said Mr Steele.

He said the TES B facility is able to extract precious metals from spent batteries, such as lithium and cobalt with a purity level of almost 99 per cent, which is then reused for fresh battery production.

“There really is no other lithium-ion battery recycler in Singapore today. The hydrometallurgical process we developed, we believe is unique not just in Singapore or South-east Asia; in our view it’s quite unique in the rest of the world,” said Mr Steele.

Besides reducing the need for mining new precious metals, the battery recycling facility also reduces energy consumption in the battery production process.

“Recycled metals – much of which are from smartphones and laptops – can be reused at a level that is five to 10 times more energy-efficient than metals smelted from virgin ore,” said Mr Steele.

Speaking at the ceremony, Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, noted: “By closing the loop on lithium-ion batteries, TES B has brought Singapore a step closer to realising a circular economy.”

The launch of the TES B facility comes at a pivotal moment as the extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme kicks into gear on July 1 this year.

Under the EPR scheme, producers – defined by the National Environmental Agency (NEA) as companies which manufacture or import electrical or electronic products into Singapore – will have to finance the collection and proper treatment of e-waste.

The EPR scheme, announced in 2018, will help deal with the 60,000 tonnes of e-waste generated by Singapore annually, which is set to grow with the increasing use of consumer electronics, electronic equipment for businesses and electric vehicles (EVs).

“With the EPR scheme that’s just been awarded in the last few weeks, we anticipate collaborating with the Government to ensure that batteries are all taken care of while working with the partner that has been chosen to lead the EPR,” said Mr Steele.

NEA chief executive Luke Goh said that facilities like TES B support Singapore’s move towards phasing out internal combustion engine vehicles in favour of cleaner vehicles, such as EVs, for better public health and to mitigate climate change.

Currently, members of the public can drop off their e-waste at designated e-waste recycling bins in public areas such as schools, malls and offices.

Examples of e-waste that can be recycled at these bins include laptops, mobile phones, keyboards, chargers and cables.

“The success of our efforts will bring about both environmental and economic benefits as we strengthen our resource resilience, develop our local recycling capabilities and turn trash into treasure,” said Ms Fu.

Source The Straits Time